Gellman, who shared the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 2002 for coverage of the conflict with al Qaeda, is a 1982 graduate of the
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
, which is sponsoring the lecture as part of an ongoing series along with the Program in Law and Public Affairs.

He has served as special projects reporter for the Washington Post, Jerusalem bureau chief, Pentagon correspondent and local courthouse reporter. He has received numerous other professional awards and was a finalist for the Pulitzer in 1998 for beat reporting and again in 2000 for public service.

A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Gellman is the author of "Contending with Kennan: Toward a Philosophy of American Power" (Praeger 1984). He earned a master's degree in politics at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.